Despite appearing in the very first episode of the Pokemon anime, it would not be until several years later that Ho-Oh made its way into the games. Since then, however, it has shown up in every subsequent generation of Pokemon titles, although is sometimes only available through trading. That said there are still quite a few games in which the Legendary Pokemon can be encountered and caught by players.
Although certain generations have limited its appearance to just one of their two games, the phoenix-inspired Pokemon is currently obtainable in 11 of the mainline Pokemon games; typically requiring the use of an item in order to make it show up. Those hoping to add Ho-Oh to their teams will therefore need to jump through one or two hoops in order to do so, although it's arguably worth the effort due to the Pokemon's impressive base stats.
6 Pokemon Gold, Silver & Crystal
Ho-Oh's very first appearance in the Pokemon games came in the 1999 releases of Pokemon Gold & Silver and it also showed up again the following year in Pokemon Crystal. In all three games, the Pokemon can be found at the Tin Tower, providing, that is, that the player has the Rainbow Wing item in their possession. How and when exactly they can get their hands on this varies a little from title to title though.
In Pokemon Gold, players will be rewarded with the Rainbow Wing after driving Team Rocket out of the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City. In Pokemon Silver, players can get the item from a man in Pewter City after defeating the Elite Four, while in Pokemon Crystal, they'll instead need to talk to a sage at the Tin Tower after having first captured Raikou, Entei and Suicine.
5 Pokemon Emerald, FireRed & LeafGreen
Many of the Legendary Pokemon that appear in the third generation Pokemon games are located in the Sevii Islands, which can be easily accessed by ferry. In order to board one of these ferries though, players will first need to get their hands on a MysticTicket, which can be downloaded via the games' Mystery Gift function.
In Emerald, players need to board the S.S. Tidal from Lillycove City, while in FireRed & LeafGreen, they'll instead have to speak with the sailor who is standing in front of one of the SeaGallop Ferries. Doing so will transport the player to an island called Navel Rock and it is at the highest point of this island that a level 70 Ho-Oh can be encountered.
4 Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver
Unlike some of the other Legendary Pokemon in HeartGold & SoulSilver, Ho-Oh is completely stationary. This means that finding its exact location shouldn't prove to be too difficult for most players. As in the original games, Ho-Oh can be found at the top of the Bell Tower in Ecruteak City (formerly known as the Tin Tower), although getting it to show up there will once again require the Rainbow Wing.
While playing HeartGold, this can be obtained by defeating Team Rocket at the Radio Tower shortly after battling the Kimono Girls. In SoulSilver, however, players will first need to catch Lugia and then wait until after they've defeated the Elite Four to acquire the Rainbow Wing in Pewter City. On the plus side, the Ho-Oh that players encounter in SoulSilver will be level 70 rather than level 45 as it is in HeartGold. Both are thankfully pretty easy to catch with an Ultra Ball though.
3 Pokemon Omega Ruby
Capturing Ho-Oh in Pokemon Omega Ruby is fairly straightforward, although does require quite a bit of legwork. First, players will need to head to the Sea Mauville research facility and then dive down to the deepest level to find the Scanner item. It can be pretty hard to spot, but repeatedly tapping the A button while moving around should uncover its location fairly quickly.
From here, players will then need to make their way to the harbor in Slateport City where it's possible to give the Scanner to a man named Captain Stern in exchange for the Clear Bell. Taking this item to the highest point of Sea Mauville will cause a portal to open, inside of which is a level 50 Ho-Oh that's just waiting to do battle.
2 Pokemon Ultra Sun
Although there's no way to catch Ho-Oh in the original releases of Pokemon Sun & Moon, the Pokemon does make an appearance in Ultra Sun courtesy of the Ultra Space Wilds. Players will need to enter a warp hole and then exit through a red wormhole if they're to have any hope of finding one though.
Upon arriving in the Cliff World, there are 11 different Pokemon that could potentially show up (13 if the player already has Kyogre, Groudon, Tornadus & Thundurus), one of which is the master of the three Legendary Beasts. It can therefore take quite a few attempts to trigger the encounter, although, thankfully, nowhere near as many as in the latest generation of Pokemon games.
1 Pokemon Sword
Catching Ho-Oh in Pokemon Sword requires players to first purchase the DLC expansion pass. After doing so, they'll be able to encounter the Legendary Pokemon in Crown Tundra's Dynamax Adventures. Unfortunately, however, there is a rather large element of randomness to proceedings.
Although the first Pokemon that players encounter should always be Suicine, there's no set order for the Pokemon that follow it. There are 28 of them in total and capturing or defeating one of them doesn't remove it from the list, meaning that it can sometimes take quite a few attempts in order to encounter the guardian of the skies.